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I recently asked a question that was - long story short - answered by:

There is an app' package for that!

This package indeed fully addresses my needs, but I was not aware of it (even after web search). In my question, I am thus showing my effort to develop this functionality (since I didn't succeed in finding the package by myself, so assuming it didn't exist). I explore various ways to solve my issue: some are successful but partial, some are unwieldy, and some are plain cul-de-sac.
So I think this question (and my attempts/partial solutions) still has some value for future user, who want - as I was - to use environments developed in the tufte class without using this class, and without knowing the existence of the sidenote package. However, expressed as it is now, this trials are "noise" between a simple and clear question, and its simple and clear answer.

General question: Once one got an answer to his/her question, what should be trimmed in the original post in order to make it as valuable as possible for future users?
(That means in my particular case: what should I trim in my original post -- that is, I admit, a bit dense -- in order to make it valuable?)

E.g., Should I remove all the work I did (trying to replicate tufte functionality) showing my efforts in my MWE, but that is now useless? It would make the question cleaner, but will lose content and potential "entry points" for people having same issue I had.
Or should I post it as an answer (so that this work is not lost) but with a disclaimer saying that it's for archive only (and that DG' gave the satisfactory answer)?

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    you've clearly put a lot of work into the question, never mind the problem. (and it's a happy resolution that there's a package that will work for you.) it would really be a shame to simply wipe out all the information now in the question. much can be learned from "mistakes" and running down blind alleys. i'd be inclined to put a clear update notice above the "edit 1" portion saying that the question is solved by the accepted answer, but you've left earlier material hoping it will keep someone else from following those paths. Commented Apr 1, 2016 at 15:13
  • I updated my question according to Barbara's suggestions. (So this post originally referred to version #10 of my question). // I also updated this post in order to make it more general. // @barbarabeeton: you got it: since I worked quite a bit on this issue, I somehow didn't wanted that all this work just vanishes - i.e. I didn't wanted to accept I worked kind of for nothing!
    – ebosi
    Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 8:43
  • I did this in my question. I dont know, if I did this in a good way, but it is a starting point. [tex.stackexchange.com/questions/300444/… The former code can be seen in the edit history. Commented Apr 14, 2016 at 11:04

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Others go through the same process as you and therefore may use the same search path or approaches you did. So, if the attempts/code you present may provide value to the community or future visitors, then leave the post as-is.

One may, in general, present your question in a TL;DR and Attempts order, where the start of the question provides the core inquiry (that is, the post is Too Long and some people Don't want to Read the entire thing), followed by your Attempts.

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